Awards for abstaining virgins

In an effort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, Solomon Iguru, monarch of Uganda's mid-western Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom, has announced plans for rewarding virgins. According to the monarch's private secretary, Yoram Nsamba, incentives such as certificates and other gifts are to be awarded to all women who practise sexual abstinence until marriage. Nsamba told the Pan African News Agency that the purpose of the campaign was to reform cultural practices such as early marriage, close relatives inheriting a wife or husband after the death of the spouse, and polygamy, which all serve as catalysts for spreading the disease. Although Uganda's 'Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms' strategy has been credited with helping to reduce the prevalence rate, experts have warned that a policy denying young people information about methods of HIV prevention, other than sexual abstinence until marriage, was jeopardising efforts to counter AIDS.